- James Maury
The Reverend James Maury (
1719 –1769 ) was an Irish-born educator in the American colonies. Among his famous pupils wereThomas Jefferson ,James Madison , andJames Monroe . The boarding school in which Maury taught was considered the "best known" school inAlbemarle county,Virginia .The Reverend James Maury taught instruction in
classics , manners and morals,mathematics ,literature ,history andgeography (Dabney 110), Latin and Greek. Most of these boys when going to the Reverend Maury's school, lived there as home was too far away to leave the school area and be back the next morning. Therefore, these boys knew another well as young adults and as adults they worked together in making this nation great.Thomas Jefferson lived with Maury for two years while being educated. Jefferson and others naturally went home on special holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas and sometimes on the week ends. Jefferson started in Maury's Classical School for Boys immediately after his father,
Peter Jefferson , died.Maury fathered 11 children. One of these was "Consul"
James Maury (1746 –1840 ), whom Thomas Jefferson askedUS President George Washington for an appointment. And so it was done. America's firstconsul toLiverpool ,England -- a position that the Reverend James Maury's oldest son held from 1790 to 1829, quitting due Jacksonian politics. During this overseas appointment, both he and his nephew Matthew (born in 1806) had opportunities to discuss and study thenatural philosophy lectures (mainlyphysics ) of Thomas Young published in 1807.When Thomas Jefferson's daughter, Martha, married, it was Maury that performed the marriage ceremony.
Maury considered knowledge of
geography as one of the essential features in the education of a "well-rounded young gentleman"(Allen 61) and strongly promoted settling the west. Later President Thomas Jefferson gained theLouisiana Purchase and sent out theLewis and Clark Expedition.* Thomas Jefferson wrote an autobiography and in it he wrote of Maury, as a "correct and classical scholar"
Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson .External links
* [http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/lewisandclark/students/projects/adventurers/expeditions.html Reverend James Maury's "intellectual expeditions"]
* [http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/lewisandclark/students/projects/adventurers/maurybio.html James Maury biography] (Albemarle Adventures)
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